DENSMOBJt] 



PLANTS USED IN ARTS 



391 



soft and pleasing to the eye. The teeth used in making the impres- 

 sion were the eyeteeth and "side teeth," the folded material being 

 indented in a variety of ways, ranging from a sharp prick, like the 

 prick of an awl, to a broad mark produced by slightly twisting the 

 bark between the teeth. More than 200 birch-bark transparencies 

 have been collected by the writer, and some of the best patterns were 

 made by a woman who had only one upper tooth. The bark used 

 was the soft, fine inner layers of the white birch, and it was slightly 

 warmed to render it more pliable. 



The origin of this art is obscure, but it seems probable that it arose 

 in a somewhat casual manner. A woman seated on the ground or 

 in the wigwam might take a broad leaf or bit of thin birch bark, 

 fold it, bite a few lines in it, unfold it and hold it up to look at it. 

 As the result was pleasurable she might seek to improve upon her 

 first work and others might seek to copy or emulate it. Leaves best 

 adapted to the purpose would be selected, it would naturally be found 

 that the birch bark could be folded and indented better if it was 

 first warmed before the fire, and gradually a more elaborate folding 

 of the bark would produce more interesting patterns. The informa- 

 tion obtained from aged members of the tribe and the specimens of 

 the art which they have been able to execute give no evidence of the 

 influence of the white race nor of any connection with textile or 

 ceramic art except that some of the patterns were copied in bead- 

 work. It had no connection with a ceremony, and no symbolism, 

 except that dream symbols might be indented and used as patterns 

 for beadwork in the same manner that the symbol of a man's dream 

 might be outlined in paint. It was an art with a recognized tech- 

 nique, producing results of a wide variety in the form of articles 

 that were kept, exchanged, and compared,, and in which the work- 

 ers felt a personal pride. It was peculiar to the Algoquian tribes 

 ond was a phase of the tribal life that has passed away, and with 

 the passing of that life the art has become almost extinct. It 

 formed a pastime of the winter evenings, when the young people were 

 seated in the wigwam with no other light than the fire, and it was 

 especially practiced during the sugar camp, in early spring, when 

 there was an abundance of birch bark at hand, and it was softer 

 than later in the season, thus being better adapted to the making of 

 transparencies. A few women of the younger generation (30 to 40 

 years of age) can indent the bark, but their patterns, as will be 

 shown, have lost the artistic value of the earlier period. 



The art had two branches, one of which appears to have been 

 an outgrowth of the other and to have been practiced less exten- 

 sively. The principal, and apparently the first, phase of the art 

 was intended chiefly for pleasure and had a secondary use in sug- 



